COVENTRY — The convoluted tale of the embattled Central Coventry Fire District took another twist Thursday night when the district’s seven-member board of directors unanimously voted to reject an agreement...

Andy Smith Journal Arts Writer asmith651

COVENTRY — The convoluted tale of the embattled Central Coventry Fire District took another twist Thursday night when the district’s seven-member board of directors unanimously voted to reject an agreement with the Coventry firefighters union.

If the board did not approve the agreement with the union, Superior Court Judge Brian P. Stern has requested board members tell the court whether they recommend closing the district if a balanced budget cannot be reached.

In a unanimous roll-call vote Thursday night, the board recommended liquidating the district under those circumstances.

After the vote, board president Fred Gralinski said the union concessions were not sufficient to meet the needs of the district in any fashion.

Union members had ratified the agreement Thursday morning. A referendum by district voters on a new budget is scheduled for Monday.

At the often-heated meeting of about 120 people that half-filled an auditorium at the Central Coventry Town Hall annex, the board of directors of the embattled fire district wrestled with a budget proposal.

The district, which provides fire and emergency services for 18,000 people, has been in receivership, a form of bankruptcy, since October 2012. Since then, district taxpayers have voted twice on proposed budgets, and twice they have been rejected, the last time by a three-to-one ratio.

The board had proposed a $5.6-million budget with a tax rate of $2.50 per $1,000 for residential property, $3.75 per $1,000 for commercial property. That budget was contingent upon the ratification of an agreement between the board and the firefighters union that would modify the firefighters’ contract.

Questioned by district taxpayer Tammy Duxbury, board attorney David D’Agostino said he could not reveal the specifics of the union concessions until they had been ratified by the board. But the board then voted to reject the concessions. And following the second vote to recommend dissolving the district, the board adjourned the meeting.

What happens next is unclear. D’Agostino notified Stern and Richard Land, court-appointed special master for the district, immediately following the vote.

Under a bill passed by the General Assembly in July, if a budget does not pass, the district would revert to the last appropriation approved by the taxpayers, about $5.9 million per year.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Scott Guthrie, D-Coventry, angers many Central Coventry voters. “The state stepped in, and I don’t think that’s right, that they have the power to knock your vote down … it was back-room politics,” said Anthony Garcia, a Central Coventry taxpayer at the meeting Thursday night.

Several voters interviewed in Coventry Thursday afternoon expressed frustration at the way the Central Coventry Fire District had been run, and had little interest in saving it. They said the taxes are too high and the union is too powerful.

“It’s total chaos, a total mess,” said Charles Vacca. “There’s been a significant amount of mismanagement of our tax dollars, and no one seems to want to make anyone accountable or responsible.”

Vacca said he voted to reject proposed budgets in previous referendums. He said he hasn’t decided yet how to vote on Monday, but he has serious questions about the latest budget proposal.

He predicted many Central Coventry voters will reject almost any budget out of hand.

Several residents said they would prefer a single municipal fire department instead of the four separate fire districts, including Central Coventry, that now provide fire and emergency service in the town.

Sue Ross, who said she’s lived in Coventry for 43 years, voted against the proposed fire district budgets in the past two referendums, and said she probably will again.

“I won’t accept this budget,” she said. “We need fundamental change. We need to do better, and we can do better.”

She called fire districts “little fiefdoms” that don’t belong in the 21st century. She also said the firefighters union has developed “a sense of entitlement.”

“We should have one fire department, supported by the property tax, just as it is in other communities across the state,” she said.

Ross said that she attended the contentious Town Council meeting in April when the Town of Coventry agreed to a controversial $300,000 loan to the fire district. The public was not allowed to speak at the meeting.

“That left a big impression on me, and it was a negative impression,” she said.

At the April meeting, and several times since, Coventry town officials have said they have no desire for a municipal fire department.

But Vacca said public safety is one of the prime responsibilities of municipal government. “I don’t know how a municipality can say we don’t want to be in the public safety business. That’s crazy,” he said.